House rejects Baker amendment
The House rejected Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed changes to an abortion access provision Wednesday, doubling down on its own attempt to make the procedure more accessible to 16and 17-year-olds and clarify when abortions are allowed after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
In a display of the supermajority that Democrats wield, representatives voted 49-107 to turn back the Republican governor’s amendment that would have altered two key sections of the proposal.
The vote reiterated the House’s support for its original abortion access language, approved as part of the fiscal year 2021 budget bill, which would lower the age for teenagers to receive an abortion without parental or judicial consent from 18 to 16 and make clear that abortions after 24 weeks can be allowed to “preserve” a patient’s physical or mental health. “One month ago, we stood in this chamber and took action to protect access to safe and legal abortion care for women in the commonwealth,” said Rep. Claire Cronin, an Easton Democrat who cochairs the Judiciary Committee. “The governor’s amendment threatens this significant progress as it would reinstate barriers and curtail protections contained in the conference committee report.”
The Legislature approved the abortion provisions as part of the fiscal year 2021 budget, but with Baker’s proposed amendment, it now functions effectively as a standalone bill that reflects, in large part, an earlier proposal referred to as the ROE Act.
Baker on Friday returned the section of the fiscal year 2021 budget containing the abortion language with an amendment. In a letter to lawmakers, he said he supported several sections such as codification of abortion rights in state law and allowing abortions after 24 weeks in cases with a fatal fetal anomaly, but flagged concerns about other provisions. “These are important changes to protect a women’s reproductive rights and autonomy in the Commonwealth, and I support them,” Baker wrote. “However, I cannot support the other ways that this section expands the availability of late-term abortions and permits minors age 16 and 17 to get an abortion without the consent of a parent or guardian.” His amendment would keep the current age-based restrictions on abortion in place, scrapping the Legislature’s attempt to reduce the age to access the procedure without a parent or judge’s involvement by two years.
Baker also aimed to tweak language in another section related to abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The Legislature’s bill would permit abortions after 24 weeks “if it is necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health.” The governor proposed changing the condition to “if a continuation of the pregnancy will impose, in the best medical judgment of the physician, a substantial risk to” the patient’s physical or mental health.